Police Regiment to Be Formed in Kirkuk to Protect Farmers' Lands

PUKMEDIA

Kirkuk Provincial Council's Building.

 A police regiment will be formed in Kirkuk to implement the law to return farmers' land to their original owners, while the chairman of the agriculture committee of Kirkuk's provincial council confirmed that the regiment will consist of 500 officers, stressing that the army will no longer interfere in the affairs of the farmers.

"The regiment will be formed at the request of the governor of Kirkuk and will be tasked with protecting the farmers' lands," Abdullah Mirwais, chairman of the agriculture committee in the Kirkuk provincial council, told PUKMEDIA.
 
He also noted that the Iraqi Interior Ministry has approved the formation of the regiment and that the Kirkuk Police Directorate is currently organising the staff, which consists of 500 personnel.

According to Mirwais, the regiment's main tasks will be ordered directly from the court and Kirkuk administration to prevent the army from interfering with farmers' problems and to implement the law to return farmers' land to their rightful owners.
 
"In addition to pulling my scarf, they beat me, so I will file a lawsuit against the force," said the farmer who was attacked on his tractor.

On 21 January 2025, the Iraqi parliament voted on the three controversial laws: Amending the personal status law, the law to cancel the decisions of the Ba'ath Revolutionary Command Council, and the general amnesty law. The law to cancel the decisions of the Ba'ath Revolutionary Command Council is very important for the Kurds, as thousands of Dunams of occupied lands in the disputed areas will be returned to their original owners. On 13 February 2025, the Iraqi President Abdullatif Jamal Rashid approved the 3 laws.

Kirkuk is one of the territories disputed between the Iraqi Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, which are regions defined by Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution as being Arabised during the fallen Ba'ath regime's rule in the country.

Kurdish farmers in these regions often face threats of losing their regained agricultural land to resettled Arabs who took their lands during the Ba'ath regime's rule. Tensions arose in the Sargaran area last month when the Iraqi military forcibly prevented Kurdish farmers from accessing their lands.

 

PUKMEDIA